Woman killed in fatal Highway 68 crash identified

A Monterey woman died and two people were injured Thursday in a head-on collision involving three vehicles on Monterey-Salinas Highway, just west of York Road, Monterey police said.

Police identified the dead woman as Karyn Kiyomi Stevens, 55.

Lt. Leslie Sonné said a preliminary investigation showed Stevens, driving a Subaru Forester, was heading west on the highway when she crossed into the eastbound lane for unknown reasons shortly after 9 a.m., colliding with an AT&T utility truck. The truck veered to the right and overturned on the eastbound shoulder of the road.

The Subaru then collided head-on with a Chrysler heading east and Stevens was ejected from her vehicle.

She was pronounced dead at Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula.

Stevens was a licensed physical therapist since at least 1979, state records show.